Shipping & Delivery

How It Works

Every item is made to order, so your total time is the proof step plus production plus delivery, not delivery alone. After you order, we create your portrait in our studio using AI from your photo and email you a digital proof to approve. Once you approve it, your order goes into production and is shipped with tracking.

One kind of order doesn't work like that: the digital download. If you bought the digital file — as the Digital Download size on a portrait, or as the download add-on alongside a printed item — there is nothing to make and nothing to post for that part of your order. You still get a proof, and the download button sits on that same proof page: it unlocks as soon as your proof is released, typically within 24 hours of ordering, or straight away if you added Instant Preview. The production and delivery timings below apply to printed items only.

Typical Timeframes

• Digital proof: typically ready within 24 hours after you order
• Production: typically around 2–5 working days once you approve your proof
• Delivery: tracked carrier, typically 2–5 working days in the UK after dispatch
• Rough UK guide: about 1–2 weeks from order to doorstep, depending on the product and how quickly the proof is approved — UK-printed canvas, poster and mug orders often complete production and delivery in about 4–5 working days after approval
• Digital downloads: no production step and no delivery step at all — your file unlocks on your proof page the moment the proof is released, typically within 24 hours of ordering (or straight away with Instant Preview), so the proof is the only wait

Shipping Costs & Partners

• Free standard UK delivery on every order, whatever you spend
• No shipping charge is added at checkout
• Printed and shipped for us by specialist print-on-demand partners — we route each item to the partner set up to make it, so an order with several items can be made in several places
• We email you tracking as soon as our print partner hands your parcel to a carrier and gives us a tracking number
• An order with more than one item can ship in more than one parcel, so you may get one dispatch email per parcel
• If a carrier hasn't given us a tracking number yet, no dispatch email goes out for that parcel — email hello@thefence.uk with your order number and we'll check where it has got to
• With an account, thefence.uk/account/orders always shows the stage each order has reached. Ordered as a guest? Create an account with the email address you used at checkout, then link the order at thefence.uk/account/claim using the order number from your confirmation email

Good to Know

These are typical estimates, not guarantees. Larger or heavier items, such as framed prints and blankets, and busy periods can take a little longer. Where international shipping is offered, times vary by destination and customs, so allow longer than UK delivery.

Returns

Because every printed item is personalised and made to order, the 14-day change-of-mind cancellation right doesn't apply to it, but your statutory rights for faulty or not-as-described goods are unaffected. If an item arrives damaged, defective, or wrong, tell us within 30 days and we'll arrange a free reprint or a refund. See our Returns & Refunds page for the full details.

A digital download is different, because it is digital content rather than a posted good. Nothing is printed, so there is nothing to send back — and we don't ask you to give up your cancellation right when you buy one: you keep the full 14-day right to cancel the download, and you keep it after you have downloaded the file. In practice, your artwork and your download button appear on the same proof page, so you see the piece before you download it, and if it isn't right you can ask for a revision from that page rather than being stuck with it. If a file won't open, or isn't the artwork you approved, tell us and we'll resend it or refund it. The Returns & Refunds page sets out the digital position in full.